Monosodium urate crystals in the knee joints of patients with asymptomatic nontophaceous gout

✍ Scribed by John S. Bomalaski; Geronimo Lluberas; H. Ralph Schumacher Jr.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1986
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 441 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/art.1780291209

✦ Synopsis

We aspirated synovial fluid from the knees of 50 patients with asymptomatic, nontophaceous gout, in whom synovial fluid monosodium urate (MSU) crystals had previously been documented in the knees or other joints. Fifty-eight percent of these asymptomatic patients had MSU crystals in their knee joints. Serum uric acid levels, serum creatinine levels, volume of synovial fluid aspirated, and cell counts of the aspirated fluid did not differentiate the MSU crystal-positive group from the group without MSU crystals. Clinical factors such as alcohol abuse, coronary heart disease, hypertension, duration of gout, duration of the intercritical period, and drug therapy did not differentiate the 2 groups. Nineteen patients consented to aspiration of their other knee. Seven of these patients (37%) had MSU crystals bilaterally, and 6 patients (32 %) had them unilaterally. The implications of the persistence of MSU crystals (including those in intracellular locations) in many patients, despite normalization of serum uric acid levels,